The Xixi Goldmye Bookstore is truly something spectacular. What started as a forgotten 20-year-old office building in Hangzhou’s wetlands has become something entirely different. Atelier Wen’Arch stripped away everything unnecessary, leaving only bare concrete columns as the foundation for their vision. The transformation required dismantling the existing roof and wall systems completely. The U-shaped structure, once closed off and disconnected from the surrounding Xixi National Wetland Park, now opens generously to its natural setting. This 880-square-meter space, completed in April 2025, shows us that innovative renovation can breathe new life into forgotten architecture.
The “book beams” define everything about this space. These laminated pine timber elements intersect with the original concrete columns, extending outward in measured cantilevers that create rhythm throughout the interior. The double-beam system integrates lighting and air conditioning return channels between each timber pair, turning infrastructure into architectural poetry. This structural intervention aligns perfectly with the original grid while introducing warmth and human scale to what was once sterile office space. The beams frame views of the wetland landscape, turning the surrounding nature into a living artwork visible from every reading nook.
Designer: Atelier Wen’Arch
Two distinct architectural elements anchor the bookstore’s relationship with water and sky. The Book Tower rises at the southwest corner, featuring stacked mezzanines that wrap in nested rings around a concealed grid of steel I-beams. This vertical intervention creates intimate reading spaces while maintaining visual connection throughout multiple levels. The waterside pavilion uses sloped roofs and recessed seating to engage directly with the wetland, creating spaces where readers can settle in with books while watching water birds navigate the marsh. Both elements demonstrate how architecture can celebrate rather than compete with natural surroundings.
Light transforms this compact bookstore into something much larger than its footprint suggests. The generous glazing eliminates boundaries between interior reading spaces and exterior wetland views. Suspended eaves reinterpret traditional Chinese shading elements in contemporary form, filtering harsh sunlight while maintaining visual connection to the landscape. The interplay between timber warmth and concrete coolness creates spatial depth that makes visitors forget they’re inside a renovated office building. Natural daylight shifts throughout the day, creating different moods for morning coffee drinkers and evening readers alike.
The building’s elevation above the wetland creates a floating sensation that makes the bookstore feel weightless. The water courtyard, once negative space that disconnected the building from its surroundings, now serves as a reflecting pool that brings sky and clouds into the ground plane. The three wings of the original U-shape now embrace this water feature rather than ignoring it. Visitors move through spaces that feel suspended between earth and sky, with wetland sounds and scents drifting through open windows. This floating quality makes reading feel like a form of meditation.
Atelier Wen’Arch understood that great bookstore design isn’t about shelving books efficiently but creating spaces where people want to linger. The Xixi Goldmye Bookstore succeeds because it treats books as companions to the larger experience of connecting with nature and architecture. Lead architect Shen Wen’s team created something rare: a public space that serves the community while respecting its delicate wetland setting. This bookstore is a fine specimen of how renovation can be more transformative than new construction when architects approach existing buildings with imagination rather than demolition plans.
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